Mark Peel’s Easy Vegetable Side Dishes With great ingredients and proper technique, humble vegetables like potatoes and carrots are transformed into delicious family meal side dishes. Below are four easy methods, plus eight F&W recipes that use these classic vegetables (right).

Where to Go Next: San Francisco San Francisco is famous for casual restaurants. The new trend: supercasual. Elite chef Daniel Patterson has opened a sandwich spot, and another ambitious chef, Thomas McNaughton, is working at a pizza place. But elegant dining is doing surprisingly well in an unlikely location: Oakland.

A Self-Guided Study of Japanese Food F&W’s editor, Dana Cowin, sets out to understand Japanese food traditions—but is soon impressed by how modern and trendsetting the cuisine really is.

The Culinary Crusader Awards F&W’s Megan Krigbaum describes how these visionaries harness the power of good food to help everyone from farmers to urban teenagers.